KR101985437B1 - Flexible Touch Screen Panel and Fabricating Method Thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a flexible touch screen panel.
A flexible touch screen panel of the present invention includes: a porous substrate on which a plurality of openings are dispersed in at least a touch active region; And a plurality of sensing cells formed in the touch active area on the substrate, the sensing areas opening corresponding to the openings.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a flexible touch screen panel and a fabrication method thereof,

The present invention relates to a touch screen panel and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a flexible touch screen panel and a manufacturing method thereof.

The touch screen panel is an input device that allows a user to input a command by selecting an instruction displayed on a screen of a video display device or the like as a human hand or an object.

To this end, the touch screen panel is provided on the front face of the image display device and converts the contact position, which is in direct contact with a human hand or an object, into an electrical signal. Thus, the instruction content selected at the contact position is accepted as the input signal.

Such a touch screen panel can be replaced with a separate input device connected to the image display device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and thus the use range thereof is gradually expanding.

As a method of implementing a touch screen panel, a resistive film type, a light sensing type, and a capacitive type are known. Among them, the capacitive touch screen panel senses a change in capacitance that the conductive sensing cell forms with other peripheral sensing cells or ground electrodes when an object such as a human hand or a stylus pen is contacted, And converts it into an electrical signal.

Such a touch screen panel is generally attached to the outer surface of an image display device such as a liquid crystal display device and an organic light emitting display device and is often commercialized. Therefore, the touch screen panel requires high transparency and thin film characteristics.

In addition, in recent years, a flexible image display device has been developed, and accordingly, a touch screen panel attached to a flexible image display device is also required to have a flexible characteristic.

However, the conventional touch screen panel has a structure including a sensing cell formed on a glass substrate by using a transparent conductive material such as ITO, and the flexible property is not satisfied.

In order to apply the conventional touch screen panel to a flexible image display device, a method of using a flexible thin film such as a PET material as a substrate of a touch screen panel has been proposed. However, even if a thin film is used as a substrate of a touch screen panel, the critical strain is low and the flexible characteristics are not sufficiently provided. For example, when the deformation rate is 5% or more, there is a problem that the substrate is permanently deformed or damaged.

Accordingly, there is a need to search for a way to effectively improve the flexibility of the touch screen panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible touch screen panel and a method of manufacturing the same that can improve flexibility.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising: a porous substrate on which a plurality of openings are dispersed in at least a touch active region; And a plurality of sensing cells formed on the touch active area on the substrate, the sensing areas opening corresponding to the openings.

Here, at least the touch active region may be patterned in the form of a mesh in the porous substrate.

Each of the sensing cells may be formed in a mesh shape corresponding to the substrate of the mesh type.

In addition, the substrate may be embodied as a film substrate.

Here, the substrate is a thin film substrate formed of at least one material selected from the group consisting of polyester (PET), polycarbonate (PC), triacetyl cellulose (TAC), polyethersulfone (PES), and polyimide Can be implemented.

In addition, each of the sensing cells may be formed in a mesh shape composed of fine wires of an opaque metal material, so that a region corresponding to the opening may be opened.

The sensing cells may include a plurality of first sensing cells formed to be connected along a first direction and a plurality of second sensing cells formed to connect along a second direction crossing the first direction .

The first sensing cells and the second sensing cells are formed on the same surface of the substrate and include a plurality of first connection patterns connecting the first sensing cells along the first direction; A plurality of second connection patterns connecting the second sensing cells along the second direction; And an insulating layer interposed between the first connection patterns and the second connection patterns at the intersections of the first connection patterns and the second connection patterns.

In addition, the first sensing cells and the second sensing cells may be formed on different surfaces of the substrate, respectively.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: preparing a substrate; Forming a plurality of sensing cells each patterned in a mesh shape in a touch active region defined in the substrate, wherein the plurality of sensing cells are formed in at least one region of the substrate including the touch active region, The present invention further provides a method of manufacturing a flexible touch screen panel.

Here, the step of forming a plurality of openings in one region of the substrate may be performed before forming the sensing cells, and in the forming of the sensing cells, the sensing cells may be formed so that a region corresponding to the opening is opened. can do.

The forming of the plurality of openings in one region of the substrate may include patterning the substrate so that the regions corresponding to the open regions of the sensing cells are formed after the sensing cells are patterned.

The forming of the sensing cells may include forming a plurality of first sensing cells connected to one side of the substrate along a first direction; And forming a plurality of second sensing cells connected to the other surface of the substrate along a second direction intersecting with the first direction.

According to the flexible touch screen panel and the method of manufacturing the same of the present invention, a flexible touch screen panel is realized by using a flexible substrate as a substrate of a touch screen panel, and a plurality of openings are formed in the substrate, Thereby forming a substrate. Thereby, it is possible to impart more flexibility and elasticity to the touch screen panel.

In addition, each of the sensing cells of the flexible touch screen panel according to the present invention may be formed in the shape of a mesh, for example, composed of fine wires of soft opaque metal material, It is possible to improve the durability of the flexible touch screen panel.

1 is a plan view showing an example of a touch screen panel.
2 is a perspective view illustrating a structure of a flexible touch screen panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 3A to 3E are perspective views illustrating a method of fabricating the flexible touch screen panel shown in FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 4A to 4E are perspective views showing another example of a method of manufacturing the flexible touch screen panel shown in FIG. 2 sequentially.
5A and 5B are perspective views illustrating a structure of a flexible touch screen panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenience of description, the technical idea of the present invention is applied to a capacitive touch screen panel, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

1 is a plan view showing an example of a touch screen panel.

1, the touch screen panel includes a transparent substrate 10, sensing cells 12 and connection patterns 13 arranged in a touch active region 10a on the transparent substrate 10, And position detection lines 15 formed in the touch inactive region 10b outside the touch active region and connecting the sense cells 12 to an external driving circuit through the pad portion 20. [

The sensing cells 12 include a plurality of first sensing cells 12a formed to be connected to the touch active area 10a along the first direction and a plurality of first sensing cells 12b crossing the first direction A plurality of second sensing cells 12b formed to be connected along a second direction (e.g., orthogonal). The first sensing cells 12a and the second sensing cells 12b may be alternately arranged so as not to overlap each other in the touch active area.

That is, the first sensing cells 12a are arranged in a plurality of rows along the column line and / or the row line, and the first sensing cells 12a (12a) arranged in the same column line or row line Are formed to be connected along a first direction (column direction in this embodiment) by a plurality of first connection patterns 13a arranged along the same column line or row line. At this time, the first sensing cells 12a are connected to the respective position detection lines 15 in units of lines connected along the first direction.

The second sensing cells 12b are arranged in a plurality of rows and / or columns, respectively, and the second sensing cells 12b (in the present embodiment, the row lines) Are formed to be connected along a second direction (a row direction in this embodiment) intersecting the first direction by a plurality of second connection patterns 13b arranged along the same row line or column line. At this time, the second sensing cells 12b are connected to the respective position detection lines 15 in units of lines connected along the second direction.

The connection patterns 13 may include a plurality of first connection patterns 13a formed along the first direction and connecting the first sensing cells 12a along the first direction, And a plurality of second connection patterns 13b formed to connect the second sensing cells 12b along the second direction. The connection patterns 13 may be integrally formed using the same material as the sensing cells 12 or may be formed separately from the sensing cells 12 by controlling the width and / As shown in FIG.

The position detection lines 15 are electrically connected to the first sense cells 12a and the second sense cells 12b of the line unit connected along the first direction and the second direction, 20 to an external drive circuit (not shown) such as a position detection circuit.

The position detection lines 15 are positioned in the touch inactive region 10b defined in the outer region of the touch active region to avoid a touch active region 10a in which an image is displayed. Resistance material such as molybdenum (Mo), silver (Ag), titanium (Ti), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), molybdenum / aluminum / molybdenum (Mo / Al / Mo)

The touch screen panel as described above is a capacitive touch screen panel. When a touch object such as a human hand or a stylus pen touches the touch screen panel, the position detection lines 15 and the pad portion 20 To the driver circuit (not shown) side by the contact position. Then, the contact position is grasped by the change of the electrostatic capacitance by the X and Y input processing circuit (not shown) or the like and converted into the electric signal.

However, since the touch screen panel is generally attached to the outer surface of a video display device such as a liquid crystal display device and an organic light emitting display device, it is required to have high transparency and thin film characteristics.

To this end, the sensing cells 12 are formed of a transparent electrode material such as ITO or IZO on a transparent glass substrate. However, in recent years, flexible display devices have been developed, and a flexible touch screen panel for attaching the flexible display devices to the flexible display devices has been required.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a flexible touch screen panel using a substrate having flexibility, for example, a thin film as a substrate of a touch screen panel, wherein a plurality of openings are formed in the substrate to give greater flexibility and elasticity, Each of the sensing cells is implemented in a mesh shape so as to be suitable for a porous substrate.

At least the touch active region may be porous and at least one region of the touch inactive region may be porous according to a desired design condition.

The flexible touch screen panel of the present invention and a method of manufacturing the same will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5B.

2 is a perspective view illustrating a structure of a flexible touch screen panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. For convenience, FIG. 2 shows two first and second sensing cells, respectively, and one first connection pattern for connecting the first sensing cells and one second connection for connecting the second sensing cells Only the pattern is shown, but the structure of such sensing cells and connection patterns is repeatedly disposed over the entire surface of the touch active area.

2, the flexible touch screen panel according to the present invention includes a porous substrate 100 in which a plurality of openings 100a are dispersed in at least a touch active region, a flexible substrate 100 formed on the touch active region on the substrate 100, A plurality of sensing cells 120 in which an area corresponding to the opening 100a is opened, connection patterns 130 for connecting the sensing cells 120 along a first direction or a second direction, And an insulating film 140 for ensuring stability between the connection patterns 130 at the intersections thereof.

The substrate 100 may be formed of a flexible material, for example, a film material. For example, the substrate 100 may be a thin film formed of one or more materials selected from the group consisting of polyester (PET), polycarbonate (PC), triacetyl cellulose (TAC), polyethersulfone (PES) and polyimide Film substrate.

However, the substrate 100 of the present invention is embodied as a porous substrate having a plurality of openings 100a formed in at least a touch active region. In one example, the substrate 100 may be patterned at least in the form of a mesh of a touch active region. When the substrate 100 is embodied as a porous substrate, flexibility and elasticity are improved. Accordingly, when an external force is applied to the substrate 100 to deform the substrate 100, the substrate 100 absorbs external force through deformation, protects the sensing cells 120 and the connection patterns 130, When the external force is removed, the original shape is restored and the durability of the touch screen panel is improved.

The sensing cells 120 are patterned to open an area corresponding to the opening 100a of the substrate. For example, each of the sensing cells 120 may be formed in a mesh shape corresponding to the substrate 100 in a mesh form. For this purpose, each of the sensing cells 120 may be formed of fine wires of an opaque metal material. For example, the sensing cells 120 may be formed of a low resistance metal such as Ag, Al, Cu, Cr, The same nano metal conductive film may be used. When the sensing cells 120 are formed of the opaque metal having such flexibility, the sensing cells 120 themselves are robust to cracks due to external force, and are easily applied to the flexible touch screen panel.

However, when the sensing cells 120 are formed of opaque metal, a polarizing film (not shown) may be used to prevent visualization by adjusting the width and thickness of the sensing cells 120, May be additionally provided.

These sensing cells 120 include a plurality of first sensing cells 120a formed to be connected along a first direction and a plurality of second sensing cells 120b formed to be connected along a second direction . Here, the first direction and the second direction intersect with each other. For example, if the first direction is set to the vertical direction, the second direction may be set to the horizontal direction. The first sensing cells 120a and the second sensing cells 120b are connected along the first and second directions by the first connection patterns 130a and the second connection patterns 130b, respectively.

The connection patterns 130 may include a plurality of first connection patterns 130a connecting the first sensing cells 120a along a first direction and a plurality of second connection patterns 130b connecting the second sensing cells 120b along a second direction And a plurality of second connection patterns 130b connecting the first and second connection patterns 130a and 130b. Here, the first connection patterns 130a and / or the second connection patterns 130b may be integrally formed with the first sensing cells 120a or the second sensing cells 120b, respectively.

These connection patterns 130 may also be formed of opaque metal having ductility, for example, they may be constructed of thin lines of opaque metal, such as the sensing cells 120. Also, the connection patterns 130 may be patterned so that the regions corresponding to the openings 100a of the substrate are opened.

The first and second sensing cells 120a and 120b and the first and second connection patterns 130a and 130b may be formed on the same surface of the substrate 100. [ However, in this case, since the first connection patterns 130a and the second connection patterns 130b intersect with each other, an insulating film 140 for ensuring stability can be interposed at the intersections of the first connection patterns 130a and the second connection patterns 130b.

The insulating layer 140 is interposed between the first connection patterns 130a and the second connection patterns 130b to isolate the first sensing cells 120a from the second sensing cells 120b. For example, the insulating layer 140 may be patterned at each intersection of the first connection patterns 130a and the second connection patterns 130b in an independent manner.

According to the flexible touch screen panel of the present invention as described above, the flexible substrate 100, for example, a thin film substrate is used as a substrate of the touch screen panel to implement a flexible touch screen panel, 100 to form a porous substrate 100. Thereby, it is possible to impart more flexibility and elasticity to the touch screen panel.

In addition, each of the sensing cells 120 of the flexible touch screen panel according to the present invention may be formed in the form of a mesh, for example, composed of fine wires of soft opaque metal material, It is possible to improve the durability of the flexible touch screen panel.

FIGS. 3A to 3E are perspective views illustrating a method of fabricating the flexible touch screen panel shown in FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A to 3E, a method of manufacturing a flexible touch screen panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of preparing and patterning a substrate 100 to form a porous substrate 100, Such as the sensing cells 120a and 120b, on the touch panel 100. [

A method of manufacturing a flexible touch screen panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail. First, a thin film substrate 100 is prepared as shown in FIG. 3A.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, a plurality of openings 100a are formed in a region including at least a touch active region of the substrate 100 to form the porous substrate 100. FIG. For example, the substrate 100 may be patterned so that the porous substrate 100 in the form of a mesh is realized. Here, the substrate 100 may be patterned by an exposure method using a photosensitive dry film, or a plurality of openings 100a may be formed on the substrate 100 through local patterning by dry or wet etching .

Then, the first and second sensing cells 120a and 120b are formed on the porous substrate 100. When the first and second sensing cells 120a and 120b are formed on the same side of the substrate 100, the insulating film 140 is also formed.

For example, the step of forming the sensing cells 120a and 120b may include forming the first sensing cells 120a and the first connection patterns 130a on the patterned porous substrate 100 as shown in FIG. Forming an insulating layer 140 on the first connection patterns 130a as shown in FIG. 3D, and forming the second sensing cells 120b and 120b as shown in FIG. 3E, 2 connection patterns 130b may be sequentially formed.

Here, the sensing cells 120a and 120b and / or the connection patterns 130a and 130b may be patterned in a mesh shape such that a region corresponding to the opening 100a of the substrate 100 is opened.

FIGS. 4A to 4E are perspective views showing another example of a method of manufacturing the flexible touch screen panel shown in FIG. 2 sequentially. For the sake of convenience, a detailed description of the same or similar parts as those of Figs. 3A to 3E will be omitted when explaining Figs. 4A to 4E.

4A to 4E, a method of fabricating a flexible touch screen panel according to another embodiment of the present invention includes preparing a substrate 100, forming a mesh shape in a touch active region defined in the substrate 100, Forming a touch sensing pattern including a plurality of sensing cells 120a and 120b patterned with the touch sensing pattern and a plurality of openings 100a in a region including at least a touch active area of the substrate 100 on which the touch sensing pattern is formed, To form a porous substrate (100).

A method of manufacturing a flexible touch screen panel according to another embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail. First, a thin film substrate 100 is prepared as shown in FIG. 4A.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, the first sensing cells 120a and the first connection patterns 130a are formed on the touch active area of the substrate 100. Then, as shown in FIG. At this time, the first sensing cells 120a and the first connection patterns 130a may be patterned in the form of a mesh. For example, the first sensing cells 120a and the first connection patterns 130a may be formed by patterning or coating a conductive layer on the entire surface of the substrate 100, have.

4C, after the insulating layer 140 is formed on the first connection patterns 130a, the second sensing cells 120b and the second connection patterns 130b are formed as shown in FIG. 130b. At this time, the second sensing cells 120b and the second connection patterns 130b may also be patterned in the form of a mesh.

Then, the porous substrate 100 is formed by patterning the substrate 100 as shown in FIG. 4E. At this time, the opening 100a of the substrate 100 may be formed so as not to overlap with the touch sensing pattern including the sensing cells 120a and 120b, thereby realizing a mesh-shaped substrate 100. [ That is, the substrate 100 may be patterned so that the regions corresponding to the regions where the sensing cells 120a and 120b and the connection patterns 130a and 130b are opened are opened.

5A and 5B are perspective views illustrating a structure of a flexible touch screen panel according to another embodiment of the present invention. 5A and 5B illustrate both sides of a flexible touch screen panel according to another embodiment of the present invention. For the sake of convenience, a detailed description of parts similar to or the same as those of Fig. 2 will be omitted when explaining Figs. 5A to 5B.

5A and 5B, the first sensing cells 120a and the second sensing cells 120b may be formed on different surfaces of the substrate 100, respectively.

5A, the first sensing cells 120a and the first connection patterns 130a are formed on one surface of the substrate 100. On the other surface of the substrate 100 opposite to the first surface, The second sensing cells 120b and the second connection patterns 130b are formed as shown in FIG. 5B. In this case, since the substrate 100 can also function as an insulating film for insulating the first sensing cells 120a and the second sensing cells 120b, the insulating film 140 shown in FIG. 2 is formed separately .

A method of fabricating a flexible touch screen panel according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of first sensing cells 120a and a plurality of first connection patterns 120a connected to one surface of a substrate 100 along a first direction, Forming a plurality of second sensing cells 120b and second connection patterns 130b connected to the other side of the substrate 100 along a second direction by patterning the first sensing patterns 130a, . Here, the substrate 100 may be patterned to be porous before the first sensing cells 120a and / or the second sensing cells 120b are formed, or may be patterned into the first sensing cells 120a and / 2 < / RTI > sensing cells 120b may be formed.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

100: substrate 100a:
120: sense cell 130: connection pattern
140: insulating film

Claims (13)

A porous substrate on which a plurality of openings are dispersed in at least a touch active region;
A plurality of sensing cells formed in the touch active area on the substrate and having openings corresponding to the openings; And
And connection patterns connecting the sensing cells and opening areas corresponding to the openings. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the porous substrate is patterned in at least the touch active region in a mesh form. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein each of the sensing cells is formed in a mesh shape corresponding to the substrate of the mesh type. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the substrate is a film substrate. 5. The method of claim 4,
The substrate is a flexible film substrate which is a thin film substrate formed of at least one material selected from the group consisting of polyester (PET), polycarbonate (PC), triacetylcellulose (TAC), polyethersulfone (PES) and polyimide Screen panel. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein each of the sensing cells is formed in a mesh shape composed of fine lines of an opaque metal material, and the area corresponding to the opening is opened. The method according to claim 1,
The sensing cells include a plurality of first sensing cells formed to be connected along a first direction and a plurality of second sensing cells formed to be connected along a second direction intersecting the first direction, . 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the first sensing cells and the second sensing cells are formed on the same side of the substrate,
A plurality of first connection patterns connecting the first sensing cells along the first direction;
A plurality of second connection patterns connecting the second sensing cells along the second direction;
And an insulating layer interposed between the first connection patterns and the second connection patterns at intersections of the first connection patterns and the second connection patterns. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the first sensing cells and the second sensing cells are formed on different surfaces of the substrate, respectively. Preparing a substrate;
Forming a plurality of sensing cells, each patterned in a mesh shape, in a touch active area defined on the substrate, and connection patterns that are patterned in a mesh shape, connecting the sensing cells,
Forming a plurality of openings in at least one region of the substrate including at least the touch active region. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein forming the plurality of openings in one region of the substrate is performed before forming the connection patterns with the sensing cells,
Wherein the sensing cells are formed such that a region corresponding to the opening is opened in the forming of the sensing cells. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein forming the plurality of openings in one region of the substrate comprises patterning the sensing cells and the connection patterns and then patterning the substrate such that the regions corresponding to the open regions of the sensing cells are opened, A method of manufacturing a flexible touch screen panel. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein forming the sensing cells comprises:
Forming a plurality of first sensing cells connected to one side of the substrate along a first direction;
And forming a plurality of second sensing cells connected to the other surface of the substrate along a second direction intersecting with the first direction.

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